


Letters From Home

by milkwithcalsehun



Category: Kpop - Fandom, VIXX
Genre: Angst, Death, M/M, Piano AU, Two Shot, beat neo, slow start
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-16
Updated: 2015-06-19
Packaged: 2018-04-04 17:37:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4146765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkwithcalsehun/pseuds/milkwithcalsehun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Taekwoon is a man of music.  He isn't very good at words.  He also thinks that luck is a fool's game.</p><p>Sanghyuk is a man of music.   He is very good at words.  He also believes that luck is a fool's game.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Music Man

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tvxq](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvxq/gifts).



> Alright here's part one
> 
> It's pretty short and pretty slow but part two will be better I swear
> 
> Anyway, this is written for my peach, my plum, my earth, my sun
> 
> My everything
> 
> Enjoy<3

Taekwoon had an eye for beauty. He was a musician, and from his hands, beautiful things were created. He knew beauty didn't require words, which is why when he sat down in front of the piano, he let his hands do the talking. He let melodies and harmonies drip from his fingers and onto the ivory keys. He enveloped himself in beauty that words simply could not describe.

Taekwoon himself was not a man of words. He didn't need to be. He didn't have much to say anyway.

When Taekwoon first saw Sanghyuk, it was subtle. Beautiful. Words to describe him wouldn't surface to his mind, but they rarely did. That night, he wrote a piece for Sanghyuk, a stranger he had barely caught a glimpse of, and he cried as his fingers danced across the keys.

It was a tragically beautiful piece. The best he had played so far.

-

It's two years later and Taekwoon is performing. He plays classical pieces, with a few of his own mixed in. Lately, he's been brave enough to play the piece he wrote for the stranger two years ago. It was a crowd favorite.

He decides to play the piece as his closer. It started off soft, almost as subtly as the stranger came into his life, as a whisper in a crowd. Then the melody picks up and the harmony is almost abrasive, voicing the frustration Taekwoon feels at his own hands for not reaching out, at his own voice for not calling out. The finish is messy, almost silent, just like how the stranger mixed with the crowd and mixed out of Taekwoon's life. Taekwoon stands. He bows. The crowd is on their feet, erupting into loud applause and cheers. Taekwoon raises back up to bow again but he looks out into the crowd and he sees him.

He sees the inspiration of his song. His muse. The only thing on his mind for the past two years.

He scrambles off the stage after the man, who happens to be coming towards the stage, but Taekwoon is so befuddled and so desperate to reach this time that he doesn't even notice. He doesn't notice the lady he almost knocks over, he doesn't notice the flowers someone tries to hand him, and he definitely did not notice his long sought after muse running smack into him.

Ow.

"I'm sorry!" the man says, all apologies and blushing.

"....It's okay," Taekwoon says, his glare heavy and his voice soft.

The stranger smiles an awkward smile and extends his hand.

"I'm Han Sanghyuk," he says, his voice a pleasant, soothing soundtrack to Taekwoon's deepest thoughts.

"I'm Jung Taekwoon," Taekwoon said, reaching out to shake Sanghyuk's hand.

Sanghyuk laughed a little and Taekwoon noted that it sounded like twinkling bells or windchimes or other pretty sounds.

"I know what your name is. It's on the playbill. And the marqui," Sanghyuk grinned and Taekwoon felt a little silly. He just nodded and acted like he wasn't making a fool of himself in front of his only inspiration.

"Anyway, that final piece you played, "Fleeting Chance", was it? It was phenomenal," Sanghyuk gushes and Taekwoon blushes.

"I wrote it for you," Taekwoon blurts out, and Sanghyuk replaces his smile with a look of confusion.

Taekwoon internally panics. 

"Um, you see, I-" he tries, and Sanghyuk shakes his head.

"It's okay. It's still a beautiful song. Have you ever thought of recording it?" Sanghyuk asks, and Taekwoon just kind of looks at him.

Sure, he'd had the song copyrighted, it was his song. But he didn't feel the need to record.

"Um, no," Taekwoon said slowly, and suddenly he was flocked by people as if from nowhere. Sanghyuk was pushed out of the way and Taekwoon shot a desperate glance in his direction. Sanghyuk nodded like he understood and then he walked away.

Taekwoon kicked himself for letting Sanghyuk get away twice.

-

After his meeting with Sanghyuk, Taekwoon decided to record the song. It hits big almost overnight, which Taekwoon thinks is odd for a classical piece. Young people don't typically enjoy classical music.

Due to his quick success, the media refers to Taekwoon as "lucky". They know the young people don't typically like classical music either.

Taekwoon personally hated the word "luck". He got to where he was through hard work and determination. There was no flimsy "luck" to bring him to the top. He didn't need it anyway. 

But as luck would have it, he couldn't escape it.

He saw Sanghyuk again three days later. It was in a coffee shop down town. Taekwoon hated public places because they were loud and he couldn't concentrate, but the coffee shop was okay because it was kind of hidden and not many people knew about it.

Taekwoon was sitting in a corner pouring over a piece of music when he heard the door open followed by laughter that sounded like twinkling bells. Taekwoon's head shot up in the direction of the door and sure enough, there he was, with someone else. Taekwoon dropped his attention back down to his music and pretended he didn't feel betrayed by Sanghyuk because he didn't even know Sanghyuk, and Sanghyuk didn't owe him anything. He jotted some notes down in the staff lines like his heart wasn't breaking and didn't notice that the twinkling laughter was approaching him.

"Taekwoon!"

Taekwoon jumped slightly and grabbed his chest as if to stop his heart from jumping out of it.

"Did I scare you?" Sanghyuk asked, laughing again and sitting next to Taekwoon like they'd known each other their wholes lives.

"A little bit," Taekwoon said lowly, and Sanghyuk chuckled, and so did the guy with him. Taekwoon just kind of wished they would both go away so he could pour his heart into his work, and maybe convince his heart to let Sanghyuk go.

"I'm glad you decided to record. This newfound fame must be so much better than performing in dinky little auditoriums, right?" Sanghyuk asked, his eyes twinkling because he knew that he was the one who convinced Taekwoon to record.

"I kind of miss it, actually," Taekwoon said, and looked back down at his piece.

"I know what you mean. I started out singing on the street, but now I actually get a recording studio and a stage. Sometimes, though, I miss singing on the streets for spare change," the guy with Sanghyuk said, and Taekwoon looked at him strangely.

"Ah, Taekwoon, this is Jaehwan. He's a recording artist at the studio my father owns," Sanghyuk introduced.

"Studio? Your father?" Takewoon asked slowly. It was clicking together. why Sanghyuk wanted him to record. He was recruiting him.

"Yep. I guess you figured it out, but I really wanted to recruit you to our studios. I tried finding you after the show, but I guess you'd already left. And now it's probably too late to try, right?" Sanghyuk asked, smiling a goofy smile and shrugging his shoulders.

Taekwoon shook his head.

"I'm not associated with anyone," he blurted out. Jaehwan's eyes widened and Sanghyuk's face was caught somewhere between a smile and confusion.

"An agency, I mean. I'm kind of free lance at the moment," Taekwoon said, trying to hide his blush.

Sanghyuk smiled again.

"Then come right away, please. Are you free today? You can come with us," Sanghyuk suggested, his voice sounding hopeful but unsure.

Taekwoon nodded. He didn't really care about the agency. He cared about the fact that Sanghyuk was in front of him again and he wasn't going to let him slip away.

Not this time.

-

It was three months later sitting across a table from Sanghyuk that Taekwoon finally let himself fall.

Taekwoon has gotten signed immediately, and his popularity increased as a pianist. He was now getting booked for concerts, and even played on tracks for celebrities, including Jaehwan. The media now considered him a very lucky young man since he had gotten in contact with Sanghyuk's father.

Taekwoon, of course, didn't see it that way, and neither did Sanghyuk.

"I don't believe in luck. The media has no idea what they're talking about," Sanghyuk grouched from across the table.

"I don't either. If you don't work hard, then you will receive nothing," Taekwoon replies back to him and Sanghyuk nods.

"Exactly. That's what it takes. Luck is garbage," Sanghyuk grins, and Taekwoon gives a faint smile in return.

Sanghyuk chooses that moment to reach across the table to grab for Taekwoon's hand and to look directly into his eyes.

"I'm glad I found you," Sanghyuk said sincerely, and Taekwoon gulped as his heart fell from his chest and onto the floor.

"I'm glad, too," Taekwoon agreed, and Sanghyuk smiled.

Sanghyuk began absentmindedly rubbing small circles into Taekwoon's hand, and he would occasionally look up at Taekwoon before darting his eyes away like a teenage girl in love. Taekwoon found it so unbearably cute that his heart reacted before his mind could tell him otherwise.

"I like you," Taekwoon blurted out, and Sanghyuk stopped his small circles routine in favor of looking up at Taekwoon.

"What?" Sanghyuk asked, and Taekwoon blushed a deep red.

"I'm sorry," Taekwoon apologizes. He just wanted to make sure that he wouldn't let Sanghyuk slip away, but now he'd probably scared him away for good.

"Don't apologize. I like you too, Jung Taekwoon," Sanghyuk smiled, and Taekwoon had to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming.

Taekwoon smiled as Sanghyuk laughed at him for pinching himself because it felt like his whole life was coming together.

"You know something?" Taekwoon asked, squeezing Sanghyuk's hand.

"What?" Sanghuk grinned.

"I consider myself a very lucky man right now," Taekwoon smiled.

Sanghyuk leaned across the table, his face inches apart from Taekwoon's.

"It was all through hard work and determination, Taekwoonie," he said, and then his lips were on Taekwoon's and Taekwoon felt the melody of requited love pulse through his veins as Sanghyuk kissed him, and the harmony of hard work and determination. And it was beautiful.


	2. Expressing Myself

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 y'all
> 
> told from Sanghyuk's point of view
> 
> This was written for the air I breathe, for the death of me, for the only person who can still make me believe, a truly sensational human being.
> 
> Enjoy <3

Sanghyuk has an eye for talent. Perhaps he got it from his father. Sanghyuk has the ability to see talent in people, and then take that talent and nurture it until it blossomed to its full potential. He was able to see the beauty in everyone, and then take and expose that talent for the world to enjoy.

Perhaps that's why he was so enamoured with Taekwoon, since he first laid eyes on him, just passing him by. He knew he saw something in that complete stranger, something that came with the desire to use one's talent. Sanghyuk wanted Taekwoon in that instant, wanted to take him and make him into what he could be, what he would be.

Taekwoon just kept slipping by.

-

They met again, face to face, two years later, and Sanghyuk jumped at the opportunity to meet Taekwoon, to grab him and mold him into perfection.

It was at one of Taekwoon's performances in a dinky little concert hall that was so beneath his talent. Sanghyuk had never seen someone play the piano with such skill and with such emotion before, and he had seen a lot of piano players, he was a talent scout after all.

Taekwoon's fingers graced the piano almost magically, dancing across the keys in a melancholy battle of black and white. He would play a run of naturals, trick you into believing that one song could be joyful, but then he would strike your heart with sharp, and you would crash back down to earth from the cloud he sent you to. Sanghyuk found it beatutiful.

For his final piece, Taekwoon played an original work titled "Fleeting chance". It started off so softly that Sanghyuk could barely hear it. He saw Taekwoon playing, he knew he was playing, but he couldn't hear anything. Suddenly, Taekwoon slammed notes into the piano, the melody somewhat soothing with an aggressive harmony, something Sanghyuk had never heard before, but he liked it. Taekwoon seemed to really be voicing himself. The end of the song didn't really have a set ending, it was rather messy, but it hit Sanghyuk. It really hit him. He felt as though that song was really written for him, and he couldn't stop the tears that fell from his eyes as Taekwoon stood up to bow. He knew he had to get Taekwoon this time.

He made his way through the crowd to Taekwoon, and was finally able to speak to him. He could tell through conversation that Taekwoon was a man of music, not a man of words. He himself was a man of music, but he was very good with words, and could use them as he needed to. 

Talking to Taekwoon was wonderful, though. Sanghyuk was talking to him about recording, and almost had him, was just about to rope him into the agency, when a crowd of people swarmed Taekwoon and Sanhyuk was pushed aside like trash. Taekwoon shot him a promising look, one that said "Let's meet up later". Sanghyuk took his word for it, waited until the theatre was empty and there was not a person in sight.

He had let Taekwoon slip away again.

-

A little while later, he heard Taekwoon playing on the radio. "Fleeting Chance". 

So he took Sanghyuk's advice to record after all. 

He took pride in that, as though he had direct influence in the flourishing of Taekwoon's talent. And he did. But he still wanted Taekwoon for himself. For his father's agency.

Shortly after hearing the song on the radio, he had gotten to see Taekwoon again.

It was a normal day, rather cloudy and mundane, and he was running on about two hours of sleep but he still kept up his cheerful, mischievous antics. He had spent the day running around managing publicity for Jaehwan, a talent at the agency. Sanghyuk had discovered Jaehwan singing on a street corner for spare change, and it didn't take much convincing to get him to come to the agency. Jaehwan quickly rose to fame and stardom, soon becoming a household name, performing with idols all over the country.

After a long day, Sanghyuk's cheerfulness was slipping, so he dragged Jaehwan into a little coffee shop downtown. The coffee shop wasn't very crowded, which was good, because Sanghyuk came in laughing loudly and rather obnoxiously at something Jaehwan had said. He can't really remember what it was at this point.

Sanghyuk was extremely focused on getting something with a triple shot of espresso in it while Jaewhan was blabbering about sugar when he saw him sitting in a corner booth with sheet music sprawled all over the table.

Taekwoon.

The inside of Sanghyuk's whole being was doing a happy dance (the cabbage patch followed by a sprinkler or two. Or three or four or five). He tried to keep his outside composed, however, as he dragged Jaehwan over to his table after they had both gotten their drinks.

Taekwoon was so absorbed in his music that he didn't see them as they sat down. Sanghyuk saw this as a perfect opportunity, and he took it.

"Taekwoon!"

Taekwoon jumped and clutched at his chest.

Sanghyuk laughed because it was cute. Jaehwan laughed, too, and for some reason that he decided to dismiss, it bothered him.

After Taekwoon had calmed down from the scare, Sanghyuk began talking to him about recording. He introduced him to Jaehwan, and he was even able to convince him to come to the agency with him them. 

He finally got Taekwoon after all this time. There was no way he was letting him slip away again.

-

After Taekwoon agreed to sign to the agency, he began to be featured in more things. He played piano at solo performances, and he also played on tracks for idols, including Jaehwan. The media, of course, ate this up, calling him "lucky" to have come in contact with Han Entertainment.

This upset Sanghyuk of course, because he didn't believe in luck.

He told Taekwoon this, and he agreed with him. Taekwoon started talking about how hard work and determination got people where they wanted to be in life, not luck.

Sanghyuk tried to ignore the way his heart skipped a beat at seeing a passionate look on Taekwoon's usually passive face.

It's when he says something about luck being garbage, and Taekwoon smiles, that he can't contain himself anymore. He reaches his hand out for Taekwoon's and suddenly skin is on skin, and it's so warm, so comforting. It feels like home.

"I'm glad I found you," Sanghyuk lets it slip.

"I'm glad too," Taekwoon says, and Sanghyuk suddenly feels warmer.

Sanghyuk isn't paying much attention now, he's mainly just trying to ignore the warm, fuzzy feeling in his stomach. He started absentmindedly rubbing small circles into Taekwoon's skin, looking up at him and then immediately looking away, too shy to hold eye contact.

"I like you," Taekwoon suddenly blurts out. He had a habit of just saying things on impulse; he wasn't good at holding it in.

"What?" Sanghyuk asked, because it didn't feel real, and he didn't know if he was being punked by the universe, and suddenly Taekwoon was blushing and he knew it was real.

"I'm sorry," Taekwoon said, seemingly regretful that he ever said anything.

"Don't be. I like you too, Jung Taekwoon," Sanghyuk said, and it was true. Everything in his universe felt right in that moment.

Taekwoon stared at him wide-eyed for a moment before he pinched himself. Sanghyuk laughed. It didn't feel real to him either.

Taekwoon squeezed hishand once he had stopped laughing and asked, "You want to know something?"

"What?" Sanghyuk asked, face breaking into a wild grin.

"I consider myself a very lucky man right now," Taekwoon said, and he was smiling.

Sanghyuk leaned across the table, his face inches apart from Taekwoon's.

"That was all hard work and determination, Taekwoonie," he said, and then he was kissing Taekwoon.

It felt like wow, Sanghyuk's world was wrapped in a blanket of wow, and he had to make sure that the rest of the world never discovered Taekwoon's talent for kissing. That was one talent he could keep to himself.

He also had to make sure that now that he had Taekwoon, that he would never let him go.

-

A year later, they started living together. Being five minutes apart from each other was getting to be unbearable, ridiculous as it sounds, and most of is stuff was at Taekwoon's anyway, so he moved in. It was really for the better, especially with how bust Taekwoon was becoming.

Taekwoon had started getting booked for international events. He had already been all over the country, but now he was doing shows in other countries as well. He was a huge success, and Sanghyuk was proud, of course. But still a little sad that they couldn't be together as often.

Whenever they were together, they were together. They tried their best to never be apart, but it was impossible sometimes. Loving a music man wasn't exactly in Sanghyuk's plans, but it was just how it worked out.

Whenever Taekwoon was gone, Sanghyuk would pull one of his tshirts out of the drawers and wear it to sleep in because it smelled like Taekwoon. He would sleep on Taekwoon's side of the bed, because Taekwoon had more or less hollowed out an imprint of his body in the mattress, and Sanghyuk felt as though he was being cradled by Taekwoon. He wondered if he was in too deep.

Whenever Taekwoon came home, it was the best day ever to Sanghyuk. He would always disregard however tired Taekwoon was in favor of dragging him to bed (another talent of Taekwoon's that he was willing to nurture but never show to the world), and Taekwoon would just smile because he missed Sanghyuk so much. He always did.

Taekwoon still wasn't very good at saying things. He could tell Sanghyuk how much he meant to him, but he wasn't good at saying much.

Sanghyuk didn't mind though. Taekwoon said what he needed to say. It didn't have to be fancy, like Sanghyuk.

The most important things that he said were "I love you" and "I'll be back" because Sanghyuk finally had Taekwoon in his heart and in his bed (technically it was Taekwoons bed), and he nad no intention of letting him ever slip away.

-

Eleven months later, Taekwoon is preparing for a four day trip to play two stages in Singapore. It's not too long, he's been gone longer before, and Sanghyuk knows he can manage. He just hates it. He wishes he could go too, but he knows with his job it is impossible, and besides, he has no association with Taekwoon's career at the agency. His father made sure of that, fearing that no work would get done if those two were together.

Taekwoon was busy packing while Sanghyuk was busy talking to him about pointless things, anything to keep his anxiety down. He knew that Taekwoon would always be safe and would always come back home, but he was still anxious without him. He figured that this was the downside of having a tlent of discovering talents.

"Hey, Taekwoon, isn't it hot in Singapore?" Sanghyuk chattered, trying to distract himself but it wasn't working.

"It's not that bad this time of year," Taekwoon said, folding the last of his shirts and putting them into his suitcase.

"That's good. Sweat isn't a good look on you," Sanghyuk tried to joke. He also knew that sweat looked fantastic on Taekwoon, but no one else needed to know that.

Taekwoon chuckled before stepping away from his suitcase and making his way over to Sanghyuk. He wrapped his arms around the younger man and breathed in his scent.

"Hey," he said, and Sanghyuk closed his eyes,

"Yeah?"

"You know how I'm, um, bad at talking?" Taekwoon asked.

"I do," Sanghyuk replied, his head resting comfortably on Taekwoon's shoulder.

"Well, while I've been on these trips, I've been, um, practicing," Taekwoon blushed but Sanghyuk couldn't see it.

"Practicing?" Sanghyuk asked suspiciously.

"I've been writing letters for you. They're in a box under the bed," Taekwoon said, rubbing Sanghyuk's back.

"Do you want me to read them now?" Sanghyuk asked, and he could feel Taekwoon shaking his head.

"Read them later. When I'm not here and you miss me," Taekwoon said, and Sanghyuk smiled into his shoulder.

"Will do," he said, and they stayed like that until it was time to take Taekwoon to the airport.

-

Four days later, Taekwoon didn't come home.

His flight had crashed into the ocean on his way back home from Singapore.

They were able to find five survivors. Taekwoon was not one of them.

Sanghyuk couldn't figure out the worst part of the situation.

Was it that Taekwoon wasn't coming back to him, ever?

Was it that they didn't even have a body to bury, and they just had a picture of him and memorial service full of people who didn't' even know him?

Was it that Taekwoon's tshirts were eventually going to lose their Taekwoon smell?

Was it that people were saying that they were sorry for his loss, and that it was just so unlucky that he had to be on the plane that crashed, because the later flight from Singapore to SOuth Korea made it home just fine?

Sanghyuk didn't know, nor did he care.

None of it was going to make Taekwoon come back. He wasn't coming back this time.

-

Six days after the memorial service, Sanghyuk finally gets out of bed, mainly because he's run out of bottles to pee in, and also Jaehwan came in and dragged him out of the bed. He said something about how Taekwoon would be upset to see Sanghyuk in such a miserable state, not eating or drinking or even leaving to go to the bathroom. In the middle of Jaehwan's scolding, he's remembers the letters, and he gets up from the chair that Jaehwan had forced him into and scrambles out of the kitchen and into the bedroom.

Jaehwan hollered and ran after him, making it in time to see him dive under the bed and reemerge with a box.

"What is that?" Jaehwan asked curiously as Sanghyuk cradled the box in his arms.

"It's a box of letters that Taekwoon wrote me. To practice getting better at saying things and expressing himself," Sanghyuk explained, and he was crying, and his hands were shaking as he opened the box lid.

He started pulling out letters and reading them, crying harder with each one. Pretty soon, Jaehwan was crying, too, even though Sanghyuk only let him read one letter. The letter just hit him so hard that Taekwoon wasn't coming back. 

Dear Sanghyuk,  
You know I don't believe in luck. I know that you don't, either. It's a fool's game. Anything and everything can be achieved through hard work and determination. Just like you. 

I saw you for the first time about five years ago. It was just a passing glance, a face in a crowd of hundreds. But it was special. You were special. You are special. I couldn't get you out of my mind after that, just that one glance. I spent a night crying onto my piano for you, about you, and somehow, "Fleeting Chance" came out of that.

Two years later I saw you again at one of my shows. You have no idea how I longed to see you. I worked so hard to get to where I was, struggled with my music, strained with my pieces, and for what? To perform in front of people in small concert halls on the weekends? No. It was for the small chance that you would wander in and possibly enjoy my music. It was a small chance, but I was determined to make it work. And you did come one night, and I spoke to you, and accidentally confessed that I wrote "Fleeting Chance" for you, but you brushed it off, and I was glad at the time. Then you tried convincing me to record, and before I could agree, you were swept away, and I lost you again.

You came to me again in a coffee shop, and I was so happy. I worked hard to find a recoding studio who would record and release a no-name artist like me, all in hopes that you would hear it. I don't know if you did, but you did find me, and it was there that I was able to start playing all these shows.

I pour my heart into my music, and into these shows. But also pour my heart into you. You are the reason I get up in the mornings, you are the reason I visit foreign countries and play music for people who've never even heard of me. It's because you're mine, and you're waiting at home for me. It's something I can always count on. Thank you.

I guess I just wanted to say that I know I don't believe in luck, but when you're with me, when you're next to me, when you become a part of me, I consider myself a very, very lucky man. The luckiest in the world.

Love,

Taekwoon

Jaehwan insisted on staying with Sanghyuk that night, and they both fell asleep on the bed, with Sanghyuk clutching Taekwoon's letters in his arms. They smelled like Taekwoon, and they were written in his pretty handwriting, something that Sanghyuk loved seeing because it made him smile, that Taekwoon had such a gift for handwriting.

Throughout the night, Jaehwan tried to ease the letters out of Sanghyuk's hands so he wouldn't ruin them. Even in his sleep, though, he held onto them with an iron grip. They were all that he had left of Taekwoon. There was no way that he was going to let himslip away again.

**Author's Note:**

> to be continued friends


End file.
